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Old 12-07-19, 07:30 PM   #5
NiHaoMike
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The nice part about not exporting to the grid is that it avoids the problems with exporting to the grid. In practice, the chances of a grid tie inverter powered from a varying source like solar panels staying within voltage and frequency limits without the help of the grid while powering varying electronic loads is very close to zero. With the "zero export" inverter programmed to only source power up to the point where there would still be a (small) draw from the grid, it would be impossible for it to continue operating without the help of the grid.

BTW, as for commercial inverters that can do "zero export" to loads on the output, internally many if not most of them use a "line interactive" architecture that works basically the same as an inverter that can "zero export" to loads on the "input", only difference is that the current sensors are inside the unit rather than outside. There are a few that use a "dual conversion" design but those are designed to primarily operate as a UPS and many of those are incapable of exporting power to the input at all. (Those are mostly used in commercial environments where the load is great enough that having excess power to export basically never happens.)
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